541 for sale.

[colin7673]

I have been asked to place this car for sale, this was too late for the magazine.

JENSEN 541 R 586 EOE
Chassis No 541/2234319
Engine No 40/10829
1st registered 5th November 1958
First registration not shown, as number changed in 1961, from ROB 1
Mileage 61,000, very likely true.
Original colour – silver with black roof
First owner said to have been R O B Pryke of Solihull. Birmingham Councillor and scrap metal merchant.
Second owner B Howard Ltd of Sheldon from whom early history gathered (motorcycle dealer and insurance agent).
Third owner, my father, Herbert T Picton-Robinson.
Fourth owner me, Ian Picton-Robisnon

From B Howard - purchased from ROB Pryke at an early mileage (?what). Registration story probably as follows – Mayors of Birmingham were allowed to chose a registration number for their new car. The Birmingham Council office said to me that over that period one Mayor did not drive and the other had a pre-War Austin 10. I surmise that Pryke took advantage of that allowance for his own car. The registration was last known on a Wolseley 1500, so probably scrapped without trace. Howard kept the car to 13,000 mile. I think. Father had it to 60,000 + miles.

In my years of ownership I have cleaned, painted by hand, replaced rotten metal. Engine and gearbox NOT removed from the car. New carpets, seats cleaned, filled and repainted; rear side panels new ambla.

Chassis – rear nearside panel behind wheel show screws. Sheet originally fixed aircraft style by screws and glue. (Father ex-RAF). I have welded the edges.
New support for front left flooring. Wooden floor split in two with sealant between the parts. Similarly the front offside floor.
Sill covers extended under the chassis to the floor, held by bolts with bolt head outside, nuts inside!
Front mounts of rear springs – supporting metalwork replaced.
At rear in corner beside the battery cage, a large gap between panels - filled. Rear cross beam partly rebuilt, not replaced.
Doors completely taken apart, painted and waxed inside, new rubber window slides, new rubber round quarter-lights. New door seals hence stiffness when closing doors, and extra pull handles secured to door framing.
Seat belts fitted by father- enlarged plates behind panels including the B-posts.



Rear window new.
Wings – removable, set on rubber seals.
Outer - secured by chromed screw into inner wing; arched bracket (polished steel) held through to inner wing with two nuts; three nuts at top rear on bolts secured to side of scuttle; two self-tappers into spire clips at bottom front edge – see diagram. Left and right mirror imaged.
Inner wings – two bolts bottom front edge , wing holes slotted to allow removal backwards; two bolts under wing through to bracket on side frame around engine; two bolts at bottom rear of wheel arch, through side sill member; ring of nuts around rear of wing on bolts secured to scuttle side. Left mirrors right. See diagram

Suspension – front Armstrong units new from Taxi, with valve core changed to suit. Originals healthy – in box, needing valve cores swapped over. They can be adjusted further, but beware – do not tighten front unless rear similarly adjusted – otherwise slingshot handling!) Rear units Konis,- to adjust remove bottom bolt, push damper up to engage internal key, turn quarter turn clockwise to harden, anticlockwise to soften; originals in box Woodhead-Monroes, still sound.

Brakes – changed to square pattern pads with callipers- Relined with stainless steel by Cheshire firm in 2017. Having welded the chassis sided tubes, not air-tight, so pipe obstructed by disc in union found front left of left footwell beyond removable footrest.
Hand brake levers on callipers extended, so the longer movement of a hand lever, but firmer braking effect.
Brake pipes replaced by copper, except the centre front-to-back which was protected by oil, so not rusted. Front brake lines routed behind front cross member, away for suspension sub-frame.

Engine – basically not touched. New rotor arm, plug leads, spark plugs, condenser.
Fan cowl fitted. Radiator pressure tested 2 years ago. Anti-corrosive coolant maintained through the years – water drains clear.
Exhaust system stainless steel. Silencer hangers from Rover 800, halved and sleeved.

Carburettor floats new alcohol resistant type. Throttle linkage has added members – fork and tongue with adjusting screws (as Webber) – loosen clamps on one end of wiggly connectors, adjust carburettors (if needed) and retighten clamps. Petrol pump new; old one functioning; in box.

Petrol reserve pick-up in tank seized. So shorter pickup lengthened to pick up from bottom of tank. Dashboard switch inoperative, but wiring in place and free (insulated) above tank under rubber cover in boot. Tank lined with polyurethane coveting (American in origin)

Draining coolant system – when refilling, air is trapped in the top heater pipe, resulting in water being pushed out when hot. Solution is the brass u-bend pipe – after filling radiator, replace cap, then undo clip on brass u-bend, separate from pipe, and fill with water, then reconnect. Seems to work OK.
Radiator cap is two-way, so excess water pushed into the overflow tank should be pulled back under suction as the engine cools.

Electrical – POSITiVE EARTH -refurbished voltage/current regulator. All wiring ahead of dashboard replaced, and main trunk to rear and all rear wiring. Larger earth wires fitted. Main trunk rerouted to run through the dashboard, along under the carpets and aluminium doorplate finisher, under the rear side upholstery, to junction box behind cover in boot. Dashboard wiring not changed so multiple junctions below cover on right side of scuttle – all bullets soldered in.
Light switch seem to have an extra position to operate the rear fog lights.

Dashboard instruments – all surrounded by bright metal – chrome where original, polished aluminium elsewhere. Heater fan 2 speed with switch under dashboard centre forward, both slow!
Heater has Land-Rover core with temperature regulating switch and brass piping. The piping will need adjusting – how much is in or out of the box – to find a steady self-regulation point.
Hand operated dip switch extension - easily removed.
Underdash closing panel- interference fit between ledges front and back, with screw fixing at left hand edge.

Carpets – no carpet stuck to the body. All mounted on board or fibreglass backing. Most fitted by interference with neighbour. Left and Right front side panels held by screws see diagram; gearbox cover ‘traps’ engine side covers.
Driver’s side scuttle panel carpet hinged to allow fitting. In the square hole for the servo vent, a slide either side bridges the two separate backing panels - slide up to fix, down to release.
Rear panels under rear seat held by screw, ‘keyholed’ into metal panel – remove by lifting up and forward.

Armrest pockets – lined by separate ambla covered wooden flats. Sequence for removal is front (hidden under lip), bottom, outer side then inner side (on offside having removed knob of isolation switch). With much manipulation can be persuaded through the aperture!

Seats - Rear seat back is held by over-centre clips – swing those up and forward, then lift seat-back clear of bottom brackets. Seat cushion cleaned, repainted.
Front seats stripped completely. Dunlopillo cushions in good shape. Heavy cloth undercover renewed. Leather fragile, part reinforced on back by heavy cloth. Seats tilt forward, on short pins under front edge – 1 left, 1 right. Originally one long rod each – kept in boot of car.

In the boot, note detachable side panels – held by a thumbscrew, one each side. Box on right/forward covers the electrical junction box between the main harness and rear wiring.

Rear window new Plexiglas.

JENSEN 541R 586EOE

Interior Side panels fixing 2 self-tapping screws

Left side when replacing use probe to align holes, then insert screws back front

Right side self-tapping screw – to refit, use probe to align holes first

Bracket holding operating-knob for radiator flap –
2 self-tapping screws
Holes in bracket slotted to allow removal sliding backwards.
Wings, outer and inner
Outer wing panel
Left side (right side mirror image)
Polished steel fixing, 2 nuts underwing
3 nuts on bolts held in scuttle side
Under a cover, three self-tapping screws accessed from the inside car, under the trim panel
note screws are different lengths
Bolt into inner wing self-tapping screw
Inner wing
2 bolts through the frame, holes in wing slotted to allow removal sliding rearwards.
Underwing two bolts through to racket on the engine side frame
2 bolts and nuts at the bottom edge of the wheel arch, through sill panel.
Ring of nuts on bolts secured to scuttle side panel

If Interested, please contact ipictonr@talktalk.net for further details.

[VFK44]

An "R" with a plain 541 bonnet! Usually the other way around. Was the bonnet swapped at any point? This car was made during the overlap period of 541/541R production, so who knows.

[VFK44]

After consulting Calver, I find that HE knows. This was recorded as a 541 De-Luxe, but the chassis is plainly of 541R design (round tubing). Additionally, the body design was from a batch used both on 541 and 541R, with the body shape of an "R".
The first 541Rs (almost) all were recorded with twin carb "DS5" engines. This engine is triple carb (from new): if the engine was a DS7 with twin carb I believe it would not have fitted under the "flat" bonnet. Interesting history!

[felixkk]

Original colour – silver with black roof

According to the old Calver Chassis Book the colour was Apple Green?! The car is one after SEA770. I'm not sure if on the pictures of SEA770 from 1958 the car also had a plain bonnet- if so it does not anymore (I had not noticed that)...

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[mikebyrne]

Here is another one of the last few 541 cars with R chassis and R rear shell but 541 bonnet.
Mike.

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[mikebyrne]

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[Chris_R]

When I saw this I thought ROB 1 was Rob Walker's registration but then checked and found Rob Walker's was ROB 2.

[Michiel Bohmer]

I noticed another thing. The top of the radiator has a cross stamped in it. Usually it is bulged to the outside. This car has the cross dented to the inside. Like my car. Apparently they could flip this plate both ways making the radiator.

[felixkk]

Sold and now in Germany